The Research Unit for Global Health addresses health problems that transcend national boundaries and have political and economic significance globally. We focus on population health in a global context and emphasise on improving health for all, reducing inequalities, and protecting against global threats.

The research unit works with questions such as:

• What are the biggest global health problems – and how do we measure them?
• Which factors influence global health?
• Which interventions are effective in relation to increasing global health?
• How do we design healthcare systems so as to create the greatest possible amount of health?

We work to address the challenge that health solutions in one country cannot always be copied to the rest of the world. For example, we work in areas with poorly functioning healthcare systems without vital registration, where it is not always possible to diagnose diseases or to describe their significance at population level.

We therefore work to develop simple tools such as e.g. a clinical score which describes the severity of tuberculosis without using complicated laboratory analyses, and we work with complex interventions that at local communal level seek to develop, test and evaluate models for sustainable management of major common diseases.